Random Reviews:

Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Books and a Beat. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

Grab your current read

Open to a random page

Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

BE
CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share
doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for
others!)

Share
the title & author, too, so that other Teaser Tuesday participants
can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teaser.

By midnight, I'd already walked the boardwalk and driven a full loop of Colby proper, and still had a few hours before I even wanted to think about going home. Clearly, I needed coffee. So I headed to the Gas/Gro.

This book has been on my shelf for awhile now, I figured it would be a great Summer read. Though it is rather long, but I'm enjoying it so far. Care to give me a tease into what you're reading? Leave me a comment
below or a link to your own Teaser Tuesday. I'd love to find new things
to read.

Monday, July 18, 2016

This meme started with J Kaye's Blog and then was taken up by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at the Book Date. It's a meme where you share what you read last week, what you're currently reading and what you plan on reading that week.

Still Have To Finish:

I only have about 150 pages left on this one, so I should be able to finish it tonight actually. Hopefully!

I started this one at the end of last week, but didn't have enough time to actually read much of it.(Yeah I only read 6 pages!) So this week I plan to read the rest.

Meet Celaena Sardothien.Beautiful. Deadly.Destined for greatness.

In
the dark, filthy salt mines of Endovier, an eighteen-year-old girl is
serving a life sentence. She is a trained assassin, the best of her
kind, but she made a fatal mistake. She got caught.

Young Captain
Westfall offers her a deal: her freedom in return for one huge
sacrifice. Celaena must represent the prince in a to-the-death
tournament—fighting the most gifted thieves and assassins in the land.
Live or die, Celaena will be free. Win or lose, she is about to discover
her true destiny. But will her assassin’s heart be melted?

Up Next:

Crave by Melissa Darnell

You Know Me Well by Nina LaCour

That's it for me this week, both of these books are rather large, but if
I finish one I'll probably be adding one from the list above.

Wednesday, July 13, 2016

Ali Listens is my new review title for Audio book Reviews. I wanted to
start splitting up my reviews into categories. Something I've been
wanting to do for awhile, just haven't had the chance. So today I have a great audio book review to share with you.

Lou Clark knows lots of things. She knows how many footsteps there are between the bus stop and home. She knows she likes working in The Buttered Bun tea shop and she knows she might not love her boyfriend Patrick.
What Lou doesn't know is she's about to lose her job or that knowing what's coming is what keeps her sane.
Will Traynor knows his motorcycle accident took away his desire to live. He knows everything feels very small and rather joyless now and he knows exactly how he's going to put a stop to that.
What Will doesn't know is that Lou is about to burst into his world in a riot of colour. And neither of them knows they're going to change the other for all time.

To say this is one of my all time favorite books is an understatement. I adore this story and the characters. I will warn you right now though, this book will make you cry so hard and laugh even harder at times. Any book that can elicit that much emotion out of it's readers is one amazing story in my eyes.

If you don't know much about this book, it's one filled with great joy and great lose. Lou Clark is a very interesting character, she's very spunky to say the least. She wears interesting cloths and pretty much says what's on her mind. Will Trainer isn't like that anymore, when I say anymore I mean he used to be this high powered business man who also knew how to love life. Will is in an accident right at the beginning of this story and after awhile they two cross paths, due to his mother needing a care giver for him. Really what she wants is someone to talk to him and bring life back into his own.

The way Jojo Moyes writes this story, you can tell through her words the passion she puts into her writing. Everything just flows so nicely and it's a very easy read, (except for the end) I really enjoyed every last word of this book. The thing I really enjoyed about this book is that you can see what's going to happen, but you love it so much while reading that you can't stop yourself from finishing it. Even if it breaks your heart in the process and yes it did just that.

The plot of this story though, isn't even about Will, it's about Lou and her journey in life. I really loved that about this book, author Jojo Moyes didn't just focus on Will and how awful his life can be at times, even though it could be, she focused more on how Lou handled everything and how much she grew as a person because of Will.

As far as the audiobook portion, I really enjoyed listening to this book, at least for the first time through it. The next time I think I might read it myself. It was easier to cry with it as an audio (insert laugh here) The narrator was amazing and easy to listen to and I really enjoyed this audiobook.

I absolutely love this book and plan on re-reading this one and the second book in the near future. Author Jojo Moyes is a spectacular author and I can't wait to read other book that she has written as well.

I'm pretty sure just by reading my review that you know what my rating is for this amazing book.

The Story Rating:

The Audio Rating:

Here at Ali's Bookshelf we accept books in exchange for a honest review.
The book above came from my own self. The Audio, I bought myself through Audible. We also use
Amazon Affiliate links at times.

Tuesday, July 12, 2016

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Books and a Beat. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

Grab your current read

Open to a random page

Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

BE
CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share
doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for
others!)

Share
the title & author, too, so that other Teaser Tuesday participants
can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teaser.

He tilted his head. "It's a very pretty color. I think it might be nicer if it was shorter." He shrugged and started to walk away. "Just a thought," he called over his shoulder. I sat there for a moment, considering.

I'm super excited about this book, if you've been around my blog for awhile you know that I love this series so much. Care to give me a tease into what you're reading? Leave me a comment
below or a link to your own Teaser Tuesday. I'd love to find new things
to read.

Monday, July 11, 2016

This meme started with J Kaye's Blog and then was taken up by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at the Book Date. It's a meme where you share what you read last week, what you're currently reading and what you plan on reading that week.

This is been on my tbr for a few months and I'm super excited to finally get to read it.

From the award-winning author of The Patron Saint of Butterflies comes a story about the courage it takes to face your biggest fears.

Wren
Baker has never felt brave a day in her life. She doesn't even know
what she's afraid of, really. Only that if she raises her voice or
leaves her mark or ventures too far from home, she'll risk falling flat
on her face.

But that all changes when Wren's cousin Silver walks
into her life. Silver is totally fearless. Maybe that's why she's the
most popular girl in the sixth grade. She dares Wren to take risks, to
live out loud, to finally spread her wings. So when Silver decides to
break all the rules, Wren is forced to make a choice: Is she in or is
she out?

There's only one way Wren will ever learn to fly. It's time for her to stand at the edge of the unknown . . . and jump.

Full of heartache and hope, The World From Up Here is a tender, moving story about old secrets, new friendships, and what it means to face the things that scare us most.

Up Next:

The Lightning Queen by Laura Resau
Falling Over Sideways by Jordan Sonnenblick

That's it for me this week, both of these books are rather large, but if
I finish one I'll probably be adding one from the list above.

Tuesday, July 5, 2016

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Books and a Beat. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

Grab your current read

Open to a random page

Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

BE
CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share
doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for
others!)

Share
the title & author, too, so that other Teaser Tuesday participants
can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teaser.

"I saw them when I was running the other day. And detoured around them because, yes, enormous." "Anyway, tonight, I kept catching movement in my peripheral vision. So I stop, and it's birds. A whole flock of them. Flocking back and forth, in unison, just outside my windows."

This book is fantastic so far, it's a bit out of my reading comfort zone, but honestly I'm loving it so far. We shall see once I finish it though. Care to give me a tease into what you're reading? Leave me a comment below or a link to your own Teaser Tuesday. I'd love to find new things to read.

Monday, July 4, 2016

This meme started with J Kaye's Blog and then was taken up by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at the Book Date. It's a meme where you share what you read last week, what you're currently reading and what you plan on reading that week.

*I have to finish this one, I'm about halfway through, so hopefully I can finish it this week.*

Ruby never asked for the
abilities that almost cost her her life. Now she must call upon them on
a daily basis, leading dangerous missions to bring down a corrupt
government and breaking into the minds of her enemies. Other kids in the
Children’s League call Ruby “Leader”, but she knows what she really is:
a monster.

When Ruby is entrusted with an explosive secret, she
must embark on her most dangerous mission yet: leaving the Children’s
League behind. Crucial information about the disease that killed most of
America’s children—and turned Ruby and the others who lived into feared
and hated outcasts—has survived every attempt to destroy it. But the
truth is only saved in one place: a flashdrive in the hands of Liam
Stewart, the boy Ruby once believed was her future—and who now wouldn’t
recognize her.

As Ruby sets out across a desperate, lawless
country to find Liam—and answers about the catastrophe that has ripped
both her life and America apart—she is torn between old friends and the
promise she made to serve the League. Ruby will do anything to protect
the people she loves. But what if winning the war means losing herself?

*This book was sent to me for review and I'm super excited to start reading it.*

Imogen and her sister
Marin have escaped their cruel mother to attend a prestigious artists’
retreat, but soon learn that living in a fairy tale requires sacrifices,
be it art or love.

What would you sacrifice in the name of success? How much does an artist need to give up to create great art?

Imogen
has grown up reading fairy tales about mothers who die and make way for
cruel stepmothers. As a child, she used to lie in bed wishing that her
life would become one of these tragic fairy tales because she couldn’t
imagine how a stepmother could be worse than her mother now. As adults,
Imogen and her sister Marin are accepted to an elite post-grad arts
program—Imogen as a writer and Marin as a dancer. Soon enough, though,
they realize that there’s more to the school than meets the eye. Imogen
might be living in the fairy tale she’s dreamed about as a child, but
it’s one that will pit her against Marin if she decides to escape her
past to find her heart’s desire.

So that's my list for the week, I think I'm going to leave it to only two a week again so I can get caught back up. To all my American readers and friends, I hope you all are having a great fourth of July! To the rest, Happy Monday, what are you reading this week?